Search results

This paper aims to study the Improvements in self-cleaning property of the white acrylic water-based paint by addition of different percentages of three commercially available titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles as additives. Then, due to the risk of destruction of polymeric materials in the presence of nanoparticles, degradation of dry paint film samples was investigated for 15 days using two important chalking and yellowing factors. Finally, the TiO₂-modified paint sample with the best performance and optimum percentage of TiO₂ nanoparticles that produced desired self-cleaning and dry film properties was introduced.

Self-cleaning and dry film properties of white acrylic water-based paint were investigated by addition of three various types of commercial available TiO₂ nanoparticles (SSP-25, STA-100 and KA-100). X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller were used for characterization of TiO₂ samples. Colorimetric tests in decolourization of C.I. Basic Red 46 (BR46) were used for determination of self-cleaning properties of TiO₂-modified paints in comparison with unmodified paint sample. Also, paints defects such as chalking and yellowing were tested along two weeks.

The results indicated that, in all types of TiO₂ nanoparticles, by increasing the amount of TiO₂ in modified paint, self-cleaning property of the samples was enhanced. The paint containing SSP-25 indicated better self-cleaning properties than others due to its larger surface area. However, its usage above 3.5 weight per cent caused yellowing and chalking defects in dried paint film.

In this research, TiO₂-modified paint sample with the best performance in both self-cleaning and mechanical properties was selected among the nine sets of prepared paint samples. All the materials used in this research such as acrylic resin and three types of TiO₂ nanoparticles are of industrial grade. Therefore, the introduced TiO₂-modified paint sample has the potential for the commercial production as a building exterior paint.

In the present study, an attempt at introducing a self-cleaning paint sample with acceptable mechanical properties using three types of commercially available TiO₂ nanoparticles as additives and industrial grade of acrylic resin which is the most commonly used water-based resin in building paints, as binder. As far as it was searched in the literatures, the parallel study of the self-cleaning and mechanical properties of paints has not been reported as noteworthy. Self-cleaning property of the acrylic water-based paint samples was investigated by adding three types of the commercially available TiO₂ nanoparticles. Also considering the possible detrimental effects of TiO₂ nanoparticles on polymeric materials and consequently on physical properties of the paint, chalking and yellowing factors in dried paint samples were evaluated.

China is currently developing and promoting an industrial cluster policy at the government level. By enacting the ‘Opinion on promoting industrial cluster development’, China is supporting the development of industrial clusters. Building an industrial cluster is done by using a single factor but requires many additional factors like regional characteristics, competitiveness factors are also diversified. To evaluate the competitiveness of the Chinese automobile industry cluster, a competitiveness element index should be developed and a competitiveness evaluation method is needed to evaluate the importance of each element. To accomplish this objective, this research applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and focused on the importance of the competitiveness elements.

This research investigated the character is tics regarding cases of clusters and also analyzed the competitiveness of the Changchun automobile cluster located in northeastern China. The purpose of this research is to help Korean enterprises who enter China in the hopes that Korea will emerge as a top automobile production country.

The purpose of this study examined the effect of the eight dimensions of consumer innovativeness on brand satisfaction. In addition, this study investigated how brand satisfaction affects brand preference and brand loyalty. Lastly, how brand preference plays to form brand loyalty was also explored.

A survey was conducted via an online platform with the participants using an online firm in South Korea to evaluate the proposed research model. The data was collected from 326 people who used a coffee shop where robots provide the services.

The data analysis results indicated that the five dimensions of consumer innovativeness, which include novelty seeking, openness, quality experience seeking, hedonic experience seeking and social distinctiveness, aid to enhance brand satisfaction. Furthermore, it was discovered that brand satisfaction plays an important role with the formation of brand preference and brand loyalty.

There are few studies which focus how coffee consumers assess the value of a coffee brand. Thus, it would be meaningful to examine what impacts of consumer innovativeness exist in regards to robotic barista services that are related to brand satisfaction, brand preference and brand loyalty.

本研究考察了消费者创新性的八个维度对品牌满意度的影响。此外, 本研究还调查了品牌满意度如何影响品牌偏好和品牌忠诚度。最后, 还探讨了品牌偏好在形成品牌忠诚度方面的作用。

本研究通过在线平台在韩国进行了一项调查, 参与者使用一家提供机器人服务的咖啡店进行评估。数据收集自326名在该咖啡店使用服务的顾客。

数据分析结果表明, 包括新奇寻求、开放性、品质体验寻求、享乐体验寻求和社交独特性在内的五个消费者创新性维度有助于提高品牌满意度。此外, 品牌满意度在品牌偏好和品牌忠诚度的形成中起着重要作用。

目前很少有研究关注咖啡消费者如何评估咖啡品牌的价值。因此, 对于与品牌满意度、品牌偏好和品牌忠诚度相关的机器人咖啡师服务消费者创新性影响的研究具有重要意义。

Since the declaration of reform and market opening from China in 1990, China has drawn much attention from the world thanks to its rapid economic growth and its emergence as the world's major consumer market and the center of the global economy. Moreover, it established the new trade order, making East Asia the center of the new trade trend as it becomes a manufactural and sales stronghold of multinational companies. The Chinese distribution market is expected to show a high growth rate by 2010 and it draws attention as a new business sector which can bring huge profits. However, advancement of the Chinese distribution industry now faces systemic problems and research on such problems is insufficient. Therefore, in this study we will conduct SWOT analysis based on previous studies on the Chinese distribution industry and use it as a ground to propose strategic solutions for development.

The purpose of this study is to explore how customers from different cultures develop trust with service providers to uncover underlying dimensions of trust development for customers from different cultures.

This study utilizes semi‐structured phenomenological depth interviews to explore the role of culture in the development of trust with service providers.

Customers' direct service experiences in their native culture and in the culture where they reside (in this study the USA), as well as recommendations from others appear to be the major determinants of trust. Furthermore, a customer's trust in a recommender seems to transfer over to a service provider.

Because all informants were from one foreign culture (Korean), the findings related to primarily this group. Further generalization of these findings should only be made after studies conducted with informants from other foreign cultures.

Service organizations need to offer their employees training that emphasizes strategies oriented toward building and maintaining trust with customers from different cultural backgrounds in order to better read customers from different cultural backgrounds and to effectively react to their complaints.

The most unique part of trust development for Koreans who have lived in the USA would be the transference process. They seem to trust service providers or service organizations based on the recommendations related to specific service categories. Once trust is established in recommenders, it seems to naturally result in a transference process (e.g. trust transference from service provider to service organization).

This paper aims to investigate how brand identity is co-created, with a specific focus on how employees contributed to the process in a five-star hotel setting. The focus of this study is on understanding how two hotels planned and executed their brand identity strategy simultaneously, differentiating one from the other and how employees actively participated in this process.

A longitudinal case study approach was adopted, centred on building the identity of two luxury hotels owned by a single company in Seoul, Korea. Various organizational documents were collected and analyzed to understand the brand identity of the hotels and how brand co-creation has been implemented. In addition, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 employees to understand the brand co-creation process from their perspective.

The brand co-creation process of the hotels was conducted simultaneously and evolved over the following four phases, with employees’ roles varying in each phase, namely, establishing a clear brand identity strategy; designing and selecting sensory identity; aligning organizational identity; and delivering brand identity through external communication. Employees that participated in brand co-creation enhanced their brand knowledge, developed emotional bonds with the brand and were motivated to deliver the brand identity. Furthermore, those that immersed themselves in the new brand identities were able to enable positive guest perceptions towards the brand image, which consequently enhanced employees’ pride in their work.

This research advances the brand management literature in defining branding and brand identity elements, as well as emphasizing the importance of consistent branding. In addition, the current study expands the scope of internal branding, highlighting the process of brand co-creation and the role of employees as active participants. Moreover, it reveals that employees’ participation enhances not only their brand knowledge but also their emotional bonds with the brand. The proposed conceptual framework demonstrates the flow of branding elements, brand identity elements and the “infinite loop” of employee participation in brand co-creation.

The case study approach adopted here enables an in-depth investigation of employee participation in brand co-creation, including their different roles and activities in the process; a phenomenon that has not been adequately explored in previous research.

Emerging states confront staggering shortages in adequate housing stock. In response, governments have sought various supply-based solutions to mitigate growing housing deficits. While many of these mass housing efforts have not produced the desired outcome, the Republic of Korea’s Two Million Housing Drive (TMHD) was a comparatively successful intervention with its implementation from 1988 to 1992. The five-year initiative exceeded its objective with the construction of over 2.1 million units – of which two-thirds were built by the private sector. The purpose of this study is to analyse Korea’s relatively effective supply-based affordable housing approach and then extrapolate best practices and lessons learned with applications for real estate markets in the developing world. Comparative understanding of the TMHD can help promote greater access to adequate housing in the developing world, especially for the many who continue to live in impoverished conditions.

The research uses content-based and quantitative methods to analyze the case of the TMHD in Korea toward informing improvements in corresponding supply-based housing policies and programs in developing states.

While there were challenges with the TMHD, the program repositioned Korea’s urban housing market with greater access to affordable housing in cities for the lower-income and vulnerable. The TMHD enabled the subsequent effectiveness of demand-based housing policies.

There are research limitations in fully understanding the complex relationships between mass housing programs, economic growth and government policies. The abductive reasoning used in this case study enables in-depth analysis of the TMHD with generalizable inferences for middle-range theories with applications for emerging markets.

The experience of the TMHD can promote policy harmonization by helping optimize corresponding mass housing efforts in the developing world with the potential to similarly close quantitative housing deficits and expand access to adequate housing for lower-income and vulnerable households.

Deeper understanding of the TMHD can lead to reforms of other mass housing initiatives in emerging markets to make adequate housing more accessible and economical for the benefit of underserved segments of society.

The Korean experience with the TMHD can inform the optimization of other similar large-scale policies and programs seeking to sustainably overcome shortfalls in adequate housing that have become all too common in the developing world.

Despite the large corpus of literature on fashion consciousness (FC) and fashion involvement (FI), both terms are often used synonymously, resulting in conflicting or mixed results. We address this limitation by offering a critical analysis of FC and FI, with a specific focus on their measurements.

A snowball sample survey of 720 respondents were conducted for factor analysis aimed at assessing reliability and validity. Specifically, following discriminant and concurrent validity between FC and FI.

Our empirical research underscores the clear distinction between FC and FI in terms of their theoretical definitions and measurements. We strongly discourage their use as interchangeable/synonymous terms or use of other potentially related terminology.

Our contribution clarifies the differences between FI and FC. While acknowledging that authors may resort to linguistic repetition in their discourse, we advocate for consistently using the precise terms “fashion involvement” and “fashion consciousness” whenever feasible. This study has the potential to inform future knowledge development and literature reviews in the field.

This study aims to investigate how three critical governance decisions by foreign firms impacted their survivability post-initial public offerings (IPO): the choice of CEO (founder vs non-founder); the power the founder CEO wields relative to the board in terms of CEO duality; and board size.

This study uses data from 86 foreign firms that completed IPOs in the US market between 2000 and 2008 and adopts a Cox proportional hazards model to examine how the founder, founder CEO duality and board size influence foreign firm delisting post-IPO.

A founder CEO or a founder CEO with duality (i.e. when a founder CEO is also chair of the board of directors) does not support a foreign firm’s survival post-IPO. Expectedly, board size has a negative impact on post-IPO firm survivability; however, founder CEO duality positively moderates this negative relationship. Therefore, founder CEO duality plays a positive indirect role in the context of post-IPO firms with large boards.

First, while the benefits of CEO duality have been empirically ambiguous, this study clarifies how founder CEO duality manifests its positive impacts in foreign listings. Second, by focusing on board cognition, this study confirms the negative impact of large boards, but highlights that this can be mitigated by governance leadership structure. Finally, despite organizational life-cycle theorists’ advocacy of the replacement of founder CEOs with professional CEOs in sizable ventures, this study shows the benefits of their retention when the board is large.